The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1887-10-13

~s..S AL VIC OAIOuo IL uncovered, ana,
although the Queen is not there, eti-
quette demands that some show of
reverence be made to the chair on
which she would sit if present; there
fore. q low, humble little bench, suc-
gestive OF a school form, except that
it is red, is placed before the
railing around the throne, and
upon this the mighty Lord
Chancellor squats, with his scarlet
robes flowing out all around the floor.
After the Lord Chancellor there
marched IN four Royal Commissioners
specially appointed to give assent in
the Queens name to the bills passed.
These Commissioners-the Marquis of
Lothian, Earl Brownlow, Viscount
Cross, and Lord Stanley of Preston
were arrayed in scarlet and ermine
Likewise, fully as grandly as the Chan.
cellor, but they wore cooked hats.
while the Chancellor wore the judicial
flat cap. The four noble scarlet lords
crowded on to little bench, two on
either side of the Chancellor, and all
tive together produced an effect which
dimmed the splendor of the stained
glass windows, and almost eclipsed
the gilded throne below which they
crouched. All this while a gentleman
all in black, with a cooked hat and g.
black stick in his hand, was rowing
about at a convenient distance.
"Black Rod" was called out, and this
mournful person, whose full tide is
Gentleman Usher Of the Black Rod,
advanced. He was ordered to sum-
mon the Speaker of the lower House
and the faithful Commons to appear at
the bar of the Lords, and Immediately,
with an solemnity, trotted off. Soon
after he appeared among the Com
mons, bowling lowly but haught-
lily, and summoned them to follow
him. Mr.. Isaacson was just asking q
question of the Home Secretary, but
it was not answered, for respect 10
the Lords demands that ali other
business shall be suspended when
Black Rod appears. A sigh of relief
went up from the occupants of all the
benches. 1t meant the end of their
long session.
The Speaker got down. from his
chair and paced with dignifled tread,
in a gray wig, black gown, and silk
stockings, toward the House of Lords.
Behind him followed the Sergeant-at-
Arms and his private chaplain, as in.
dispensable an adjunct to the outfit
OF Lord Mayor, Speaker, or other
dignitary here as a. silver headed cane
is to that of q fashionable youth at
home. A crowd OF members followed
along behind the Speaker, and all
crowded together at the bar, or. in
plain words, on the floor of the House
Of Lords, whittier Black Rod had
conducted them. The Speaker bowed
low three times to the benchful of
gentlemen in scarlet, and the Lord
High Chancellor bowed three times to
him, but all this display of good will
did not seem to put the parties on the
least bit Of friendly footing. never
saw quite as solemn and gloomy set
Of men. And they might just as we'll
have been cheerful, considering how
gayly they were dressed. The Chancel-
.or apparently considered himself
much better than the Speaker, whose
wig, though ponderous, does not com.
pare with the Chancellor's, and whose
salary of Is. 900 is only half as big as
that OF his Lordship. The Chancellor
rising, Black Rod Disappear ed, and
The Clerk of the Lords assented, in the
name of the Queen, to the last bills
passed. In asserting to the bills the
Queen, speaking through the Clerks
mouth, does not say, "That's all
right" or Certainly" but answers
IN old Norman French, brought over
Dy Conqueror Bill. OF supply bills,
BY which parliament gets money,
The Queen says: La Reyne remercie
'es bons sujets de eur benevolence
1t ainsi le veult." To public
bills the Queen, through the Clerk,
says shortly: LA Reyne lie veult,'
and to private bills: "Soit fait com
me il est DESIRE" The old Mormon
French did not sound as queerly as
it would have done in an other place,
Tor it seemed to suit scarlet robes and
general stiffness exactly. and gave a
flavor to the whole affair. But some
Radicals object, and next session q
Scotchman will bring in a bill requir-
ing the Queen to give her reply in
plain English.
When the bills had been cleared off,
the Lord Chancellor and everybody
else stood up and the Queens speech,
which has already been sent you, was
read. Then Black Rod was to the
front again, the speaker bowed three
times, the Lord Chancellor did the
same, Black Rod being all the while in
q chronic state of back bending, and
the ceremony in the house OF Lords
was ended.
Afterward, in the commons, the
Speaker read the speech all over again,
two Radicals, Quinn and Howell,
keeping their hats on, and business
was ended. The thln-legged Sergeant.
alarms walked off with the big gold
mace, the Speaker went through the
annual Misunderstanding performance, in
which no 1rishmen joined this year, and
in few moments busters and scrub
women entered into lengthy posses
session OF the Parliament buildings.
The session now closed has been the
hardest within living memory. The
House has been in session thirty three
weeks, during which time the members
have had but three weeks vacation.
There have been 422 divisions, and
sittings into early hours of morning
have been the rule. The Government
has only passed into law six OF the
fifteen bills which they proposed to
put through at tho opening of the ses.
sion. From their point OF view their
great work has been the passing
OF the Coercion bill. after a forty -four
days fight with the Irish members,
during which the new word, Clos
ure," became the most widely known
OF any parliamentary expression. !
The great work of the session. from
the home rule standpoint, has been
the hard fight made against the bill,
and the reducing of the Government,
which announced itself to he a strong
and resolute one, good for twenty
years, to a disorganized and di>n,ayed
conglomeration Of queer political
compounds.